


Lifting Spirit

by Mirror_Face



Series: Kaemaki Week 2020 [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), F/F, Gen, It's not very funny though, Kaemaki Week 2020, Otherwise known as outsider pov, POV Saihara Shuichi, Pining, Wacky Schemes, this is supposed to be a comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25161874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirror_Face/pseuds/Mirror_Face
Summary: A short silence passed, before Shuichi decided that his curiosity was slowly killing him and he broke it, “So, what exactly did you want to talk about? I doubt it was just to confirm your crush.”“Yeah, I just…” Kaede sighed, “I want to do something nice for her.”“As a confession or something?”“No! I mean, er, not that. Just a… show of appreciation.”Swallowing any doubt, he asked, “What do you want me to do?”“Ah, well, have you ever heard Maki laugh before?”(Or, Kaede has a crush and a stupid plan to go along with it- Shuichi's just dragged along for the ride.)
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi, Akamatsu Kaede/Harukawa Maki, Harukawa Maki & Momota Kaito & Saihara Shuichi, Saihara Shuichi/Momota Kaito (Implied/Onesided)
Series: Kaemaki Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821469
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	Lifting Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> For day 2 of kaemaki week! Today's prompt was cry/laugh- and I obviously chose laughter.
> 
> Not only is this about laughter, this also happens to be a comedy- I sincerely apologize if this isn't funny, my humor is pretty dry.

Being shoved into a the janitor’s closet was probably something that would’ve scared Shuichi (in all honesty, it was probably something that a bully would do in a highschool drama) if it hadn’t been for the familiar blond hair and intense lilac eyes that had come with the pair of forceful (and surprisingly strong) hands. Really, the only weird part about the whole thing was the odd look in her eyes (which he, in his fairly unprofessional opinion, would probably call desperation).

Trying to prepare himself for the unknown direction that the conversation may turn, Shuichi raised his hand to adjust his hat, before realizing that he didn’t have one anymore, causing him to just awkwardly touch the tips of his hair. Embarrassed, he made his arm swerve downwards immediately, which made his elbow knock over a stray mop. He winced as the sound of it hitting the floor echoed throughout the closet, sounding louder than it probably was. Should he pick that up or…?

“Shuichi,” Kaede interrupted his (dreadfully embarrassing) meandering, “You- you’re friends with Maki, right?”

“Maki Harukawa?” He wondered out loud, before instantly turning crimson. Of course she was talking about Maki Harukawa, that was the only ‘Maki’ that they knew, idiot.

Trying to cover up his moment of idiocy, Shuichi coughed. “A-ah, yeah, Maki… I guess I could refer to us as friends?”

Maki hadn’t actually been entirely clear on that front. Yeah, they’d talked and hung out together (mostly with Kaito there, but sometimes without) but she’d still been fairly cold to him. However, Shuichi did consider her to be a close friend that he could always confide in, so that had to count for something.

“Okay. Good.”

There was a long silence, Shuichi waiting expectantly for Kaede to continue. But, she simply stood there biting her lip, surprisingly nervous.

“Ah…” Was he supposed to say something? Shuichi didn’t think so, but maybe?

Before he could contemplate any further, Kaede finally broke the silence, blurting out, “I think I have a crush on her.” She flinched as she heard the words coming out from her mouth.

Honestly, Shuichi didn’t know what to say to that. This was an experience that he had never dealt with before, a friend coming out about their sexuality to him personally? When did he become the right person for that? Wouldn’t Kaito be a better choice? And there Kaede was, looking at him so expectantly, like she wanted him to say something phenomenal. What was he supposed to say anyway? That didn’t really matter though, since in his state of overwhelmed nervousness he said, “Is that why we’re in a closet?”

_ Idiot! _

He slapped his hand over his mouth, absolutely mortified.

Kaede made some sort of odd choking sound, and Shuichi was afraid that he had made her angry with his loose lips and short-circuited brain. Before he could stutter out some sort of apology though, giggles slipped from her mouth. He let her indulge in her laughing for a good two minutes. 

“I-I’m sorry, but it’s just… I can’t believe that’s the first thing you said…” She gasped for breath, “Ha… ‘is that why we’re in a closet?’” and once again she devolved back into giggles.

Shuichi felt his face heat up, and moved his fingers, “Sorry, I just didn’t know what to say. People don’t really talk to me about stuff like this, i-it just slipped out, I swear I didn’t mean it.”

“No, no. Don’t worry, it lightened the mood for sure.”

Deciding not to admit that that wasn’t his intention (he was sure she could probably tell anyways), Shuichi hurried to move the conversation away from his mistakes. “So, you have a crush on Maki.”

“You’re taking this pretty well.”

“What were you expecting me to say?”

“Certainly not a ‘in-the-closet’ joke.”

“N-ngh.” That would forever haunt him.

Kaede chuckled, “Sorry, sorry. But, uh…” she trailed off, “yeah, I think so at least.”

“I mean, you have been acting kind of weird around her.” He paused, trying to recall some of the weird behavior that she had been showing, “Random blushing, constant insistence to talk, lingering and/or longing glances-”

“Ah! Wait wait wait! Please don’t continue!” She was starting to blush.

“S-sorry.”

Kaede cleared her throat, “So, um, crush?”

“Most likely.”

“Yeah…”

A short silence passed, before Shuichi decided that his curiosity was slowly killing him and he broke it, “So, what exactly did you want to talk about? I doubt it was just to confirm your crush.”

“Yeah, I just…” Kaede sighed, “I want to do something nice for her.”

“As a confession or something?”

“No! I mean, er, not that. Just a… show of appreciation.”

Shuichi didn’t say anything, analyzing the situation cautiously. Kaede seemed nervous, obviously. But she also seemed to be kind of a mess. Crushes could drive people crazy, Shuichi knew, and he didn’t really just want to leave Kaede hanging like that. They were friends, and she was the most supportive person he knew, saying no would be a terrible thing to do. And so, he pushed away any inkling of crushing anxiety that may or may not have been creeping up on him, all to play wingman- for two of his really good friends.

Swallowing any doubt, he asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Ah, well, have you ever heard Maki laugh before?”

“Uhh…” Shuichi paused, digging through his memory, trying to look for at least one instance, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Exactly.” Kaede crossed her arms, a passionate fire burning in her eyes, “I wanna make Maki laugh. I bet it will be super cute.”

“Is- is that your reasoning?”

“Yep!”

“Er…” Still, Shuichi didn’t know what to do. Yeah, he wanted to help his two friends get together and see them be happy. But, was he really the right person to do it? He’d probably mess something up, blurt out the wrong thing (like he had just done). Shuichi knew he wasn’t fit for the job. “Are you sure you want me?”

“Of course! You’re smart, kind, and easy to work with. Plus, you are a close friend of Maki’s, you know her best!”

Ignoring the heat rising to his face, Shuichi pushed down his instinctive ‘what about Kaito?’. He knew that the suggestion would be denied. Kaito could be pretty forceful, something that just wouldn’t mix well with Maki’s stubbornness. They were friends, but oftentimes Shuichi had to play peacekeeper.

But he couldn’t just outright deny the request either, especially when Kaede was staring at him with desperate eyes, mingled together with lovesickness. He sighed, trying not to think about the terrible disaster that would probably be born from Kaede’s ‘plan’. Shuichi knew how terrible unrequited love could be…

“Yeah, fine. I promise I’ll help.”

Kaede squealed, and leaped forward to hug him (though she was careful not to knock any stray supplies over, unlike himself). “Thank you so much!”

“Heh, yeah.”

She let go, pat him firmly on the back, and reached over for the door. “Well, we should go before class starts. I wouldn’t want to make you late.” And the door was flung open.

“Thanks, Kaede.”

He gave her a friendly nod and she winked back, before they both went their separate ways to get to class. Shuichi’s mind was on overdrive, trying to think of all the ways he could get some sort of information out of Maki without raising suspicion. He didn’t exactly want to interrogate his friend, but it was for a good cause, and Shuichi knew that Maki wasn’t the most open person. He probably wouldn’t find anything out about her without direct questioning.

He sighed, already imagining the frustration that would come with his questions. Hopefully she wouldn’t threaten to murder him, that always tended to make him nervous (well, more nervous than usual).

It was going to be worth it though, that he knew.

* * *

“Guys, Kaede and I are not dating.”

Maki scoffed and continued with her pushups, and Kaito turned his head from where he laid on the courtyard’s grass (because Shuichi and Kaito actually needed to take breaks). “It’s fine, bro, nothing to be ashamed about. Kaede’s a nice girl an’ all.”

Shuichi tried to fight down the blush that was rushing to his cheeks, that would only make them think that they were right in their assumptions. And they weren’t! “We’re just friends…”

“You walked out of the janitor’s closet together.” Maki deadpanned.

“ _ As friends! _ ” was all he responded with, because it seemed like he was just getting less and less eloquent with words every passing day.

Both him and Kaede were really unlucky, having  _ Miu  _ (of all people) notice them walking out of that closet together. Shuichi’s brain wasn’t compatible for such stressful situations, and while Kaede could hold her own when being teased 

“Because that makes sense.”

“I-it does…”

Kaito patted him on the back.  _ Hard _ . “Don’t worry, bro! If you say so, then it’s true. I’ll believe you!” He must’ve noticed how flustered Shuichi was getting.

“Thanks…”

Maki watched their interaction with a sigh, “Yeah, fine. I’ll believe you for now.”

Shuichi almost let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that at least Kaito didn’t think he was dating Kaede. A-and Maki, because it would probably be bad if the girl that Kaede wanted to woo thought that she was dating him.

It had only been one day since Kaede had asked for his help, but Shuichi could already tell that he was going to be a terrible wingman. At least Kaede seemed to know what she was doing. Maybe his help wasn’t actually needed and he could just back out?

Shuichi groaned, arms sore and feeling incredibly flimsy as he got back to his workout.

He’d try to ask Kaede the next day, but at the moment he had fifty more pushups to complete.

* * *

“Okay soldier! Again, is there  _ anything  _ that might be useful?”

“Soldier…?”

Kaede and Shuichi were in Shuichi’s dorm, Shuichi sitting on his bed while Kaede paced around the room- trying to emit the aura of ‘confident general’ (or, that’s what it seemed like she was trying to do). Shuichi was biting the top part of his click-pen, staring down the piece of paper meant for jotting down ideas.

It had been an hour since they had started brainstorming, but her elusive vibe and mysterious attitude really wasn’t helping move their plan forward. Shuichi was trying to take the whole thing in stride, but Kaede was starting to get really pushy about the whole thing.

Getting back to Kaede’s question, Shuichi simply shook his head, “It’s not like we talk about funny things often, and it’s not like Maki’s very open about her emotions.”

Kaede groaned, “Yeah, I know, but it’s near impossible to…” She trailed off, seemingly deep in thought. Slowly, her features began to brighten, “Why don’t we just use good old trial and error?”

“Uhhh.” Shuichi couldn’t form any words to respond with.

Was that even a good idea? It didn’t really seem like much of a plan, and Maki would probably get more annoyed than anything. Having that in mind, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

Kaede seemed to notice his apprehension, “Don’t worry, it’ll work for sure. Plus, we’ll probably get to learn a lot about Maki along the way!”

“Err… Yeah, it,” Shuichi paused, looking for the right words, “it’s the best idea we have.”

“Yay! Right now, we’re just looking for one thing that might do the trick, but with this plan it’ll be much easier to just try everything we can think of.”

Shuichi had to admit, she was right about that. The plan had a high chance of backfiring, but it would save them a lot of time and stress just thinking. He nodded.

“Okay! Now, tell me the first thing you can think of!”

“Well…”

(In the end, he hadn’t even been able to bring up his concerns.)

* * *

_ Idea #1: Kokichi getting hurt _

“Kokichi, please help us!” Shuichi and Kaede both bowed their heads in tandem, hoping that Kokichi would dig deep into his heart and find some sort of kindness to extend to them.

The boy in question shrugged, “Sure.”

“What?” Was what Shuichi heard coming from his mouth, “Really?”

“Yeah!” Kokichi flashed them a grin, “Although, I am getting hurt here- for someone that I don’t like!- so I think that asking for some sort of payment is reasonable, right?”

Kaede sighed, it seemed that she had expected something like that to happen, “What do you want?”

“Lots of drugs.”

“Kokichi.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… Just give me as much access to soda I want, and if I ever need you to, lie about my alibi for the next prank I pull.” He winked.

“So,” Shuichi still was having a hard time that the whole thing wasn’t a ruse, “this isn’t a lie?”

Kokichi pouted, crossing his arms like a child, “I care about my soda too much to do that!”

“You do know that I’ll probably end up pushing you down the stairs?”

“Don’t worry- been there, done that, y’know? Just have an ambulance nearby just in case.”

  
  


And, that was how Shuichi had somehow gotten into a crazy situation- him holding Kokichi near the stairs, ready to push him at any moment, and a walkie talkie (because Kaede insisted) held close to his mouth.

“We’re in the position.” He said, and Kokichi giggled, kicking the front of Shuichi’s shins.

“Yep. Yeah. Okay, I’ll just… I’ll lead her there, okay? As soon as you see us, dropkick him or something! Yeah?”

“Uh… Yeah…”

He let his eyes steer towards Kokichi, who winked and flashed him a grin. Then, he looked down, to the first floor below.

And there Maki was, talking to Kaede about something or other (though it must’ve been interesting, considering how invested she was in the conversation). It didn’t seem like she had noticed Shuichi and Kokichi by the stairs, but Maki had always had a rather keen eye, so he wasn’t exactly sure.

Anyways, it was time to push Kokichi. It was a rather simple affair- Shuichi had simply whispered a “please don’t die” under his breath before shoving the smaller boy forward.

Kokichi rolled and tumbled and didn’t break any bones (thankfully). He landed flat on his face, groaning incredibly loudly.

Maki didn’t say anything. She almost just walked past him, listening intently to whatever Kaede was talking about, until Kaede had drawn the writhing boy to her attention.

She said something snide, but didn’t laugh. Kaede helped Kokichi up and led him to the nurse’s office, trying to stop disappointment from clouding her face.

Shuichi just gaped.

* * *

Their first attempt at getting Maki to laugh had only the beginning in a long line of failure. After Kokichi there was… well there were a lot of attempts that ended in nothing more than nothing. That one time where firecrackers were set off in the halls (nervous laughing, Kaede had said as an explanation), spooking Kaito with spooky ghost noises (Kaede had shrugged, saying that Maki probably thought it was amusing). For some reason, Kaede asked Miu to make bubbles constantly appear in the classroom. 

It went on and on and on. And still; nothing. 

Kaede refuses to give up, and kept pushing and begging Shuichi to come along and help. Shuichi wanted to help, of course he did, but the current path they were on was leading them all the way back to the same word: nothing.

Shuichi needed advice. And so, Shuichi went to Kaito. Obviously.

  
  


“Okay…” Shuichi’s best friend said after he explained the basics of the situation, slowly and thoughtfully, “I knew this already.”

Shuichi sputtered, “W-what?”

Kaito shrugged, “Kokichi told me. I heard about him taking a tumble down the stairs and told him good luck, and then he told me about Kaede’s plan.”

Resisting the urge to facepalm (of  _ course  _ Kokichi would tell someone, they hadn’t specified not to), Shuichi asked, “You didn’t- I mean, he didn’t tell-”

“Don’t worry, bro, Maki doesn’t know. Or, I don’t think she does, at least.”

“Thank god…”

“Well, uh, what exactly do you want? I’m always willing to help, just say the word!”

Kaito’s such a good friend.

“Um, I don’t exactly know what to tell Kaede about this whole… project of her’s. It’s clearly not working, and I don’t know how many more crazy ideas I can take. I have a test to study for and” He sighed, “I just really want Kaede to confess to Maki already and have this whole thing over with.”

Kaito nodded, scratching his head and giving Shuichi a crooked grin. “It seems like Kaede’s being a bit of a hypocrite here.”

“Huh? How?”

“Well, I mean, if you had a crush on anyone” Shuichi blushed “and you told Kaede about it, what would she tell you?”

“To go for it.”

Kaito huffed, “She should practice what she preaches, like a real man!”

Shuichi chuckled, “I guess you’re kind of right… Although, it makes sense, since telling someone to do something is different from actually doing it. Of course she’s nervous.”

“That’s why it’s your job to push Kaede! She doesn’t have any confidence in herself, so you gotta have her confess to everything. I’m sure it’ll all work out!”

“I-I don’t know if I can do it…” He was an absolutely horrendous partner when it came to helping Kaede out, the past few days had proven that to be true.

“Okay, look. I’m not gonna force you to do anything. If you don’t wanna, you don’t have to. But, Shuichi, I believe in you.” And Shuichi knew that those words were true (because if there was one thing Shuichi had learned as Kaito’s friend, it was that he  _ always  _ would believe in him).

* * *

And so, that was how he found himself in the back of the school- Kaede having had just confessed their plan to make her laugh. Shuichi had lagged behind just a bit. Far behind Maki, Kaito leaned on the school’s wall.

“So.” Maki started to say, “All of the weird events that have been happening was just a scheme by…” She paused, eyebrow raised as she looked at both Shuichi and Kaede in doubt, “you guys?”

“It-it wasn’t a  _ scheme _ , that just makes it sound bad!” Kaede sputtered out.

Shuichi stayed silent, not exactly knowing what to say. Behind Maki, in the distance, Kaito gave Shuichi a thumbs up. Shuichi tried not to blush, and instead decided to very gently push Kaede forward, as some kind of gesture to get to the important part of the conversation.

He must’ve been too gentle, because she didn’t seem to notice. She just kept on bantering with her crush.

“I don’t even get what you were trying to do, what was your end goal in all of this?”

“It’s not obvious?”

“No. I really don’t get what all of those weird-ass events had in common with each other, other than the fact that they were all weird.”

“Well, maybe if you just think about it a little more, you’ll understand.”

“ _ Or _ you can just tell me what the big deal is.”

Shuichi really didn’t know if he should’ve said something. Kaito was there in the back, probably waiting for him to be the hero and save everyone. Stand up and speak. It was inspiring, honestly. And so, Shuichi opened his mouth to say something sensible, something amazing and awe-inspiring. 

It was quite nerve-wrecking. So nerve-wrecking that Shuichi’s mouth was once again possessed by the God of ineloquence. “Maybe you guys should kiss?”

Holy shit, Shuichi needed to fix his mouth.

Kaede was gaping at him- he didn’t know if it was in betrayal or surprise (probably both). And was Maki blushing?

“Wow, Shuichi. Subtle, aren’t you?”

“I-” Before he could defend himself against Maki, Kaede broke in with her own defense.

“M-Maki, it’s not what you think. Shuichi just blurts random things out sometimes, it’s not that I-”

“It’s not like you like me or anything?”

“Um… yeah?”

“You know, Kaede, when you have a crush on someone, the normal thing to do is confess.”

“This-this whole thing wasn’t a confession of anything! I just wanted to make you laugh, because we’re friends.”

“You…” Maki faltered, finally processing what Kaede had just said. Slowly, her face burned crimson. “I’m your friend?”

“Yeah! Of course!”

Shuichi, who was still recovering from his crippling embarrassment, was trying to decide what the best thing to do was. Both of them obviously had some sort of interest in each other, but neither of them were doing anything about it. Shuichi blurting out what he did was the best in Kaede had to at least confess to Maki. But she didn’t, and now Kaede was basically friend-zoning herself.

Shuichi could 

Once again, Shuichi stepped into the conversation, but with a better grip on his words this time around, “Guys,” The two girls stopped talking and turned to look his way. “Maybe…” He paused before just turning to Kaede and begged, “Kaede, please just yell Maki what you want to tell her.”

Kaede, the most nervous he had ever seen her, bit her lip and wrung her hands. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and- “Maki, you’rereallyprettyandawesomedatemeplease?”

Maki took a moment to understand and process thar, before blushing like crazy once again. “Uh… sure?”

“You sound very confused.” Shuichi noted.

“I kind of am? Not because I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m kind of numb to most of my emotions at the moment. They’re still being processed by my brain right now.” She chuckled, “Everything about this is stupid.”

Kaede, who had previously been stuck in some sort of unbelieving haze, snapped out by the sound of Maki laughing, “Maki! You did it, you laughed! Ha, this is the perfect start to our relationship!” Then she paused, realized what she had just said, and sputtered around, still unbelieving that her confession had been accepted.

Maki turned back to Shuichi, “You didn’t add ‘Kaede being an idiot’ to your plans?”

Shuichi shrugged, letting a smile etch its way across his face.

(He gave Kaito a thumbs up, and his friend ended up letting out a loud ‘whoo’ that could be heard throughout the whole campus.)

  
  


And that was how Kaede Akamatsu and Maki Harukawa, two of Shuichi’s best friends, started dating. It was a pretty great story to tell at parties.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. I think I should explain how this whole idea even came into being. This is actually me first ship week, so I kind of decided that I wanted to be a bit different with at least one of my fics. This is the one. So, here's the weird thing about this fic. It's not from Kaede or Maki's point of view. I don't actually know how different that is, but I certainly haven't seen it before.
> 
> I like writing from an 'outsider's' pov, I think that it gives the reader a different perspective on the ship. People should do it more often.
> 
> Also: I have a Tumblr now! Go on and say hi if you wish. [Link](https://mirror-face.tumblr.com/)


End file.
